


Out of the Dust

by KayleeArafinwiel



Series: The Road Goes Ever On And On [9]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works
Genre: Cousins, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-22
Updated: 2012-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-14 19:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/518668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayleeArafinwiel/pseuds/KayleeArafinwiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Halimath (September) 3015 of the Third Age (1415 by the Shire Reckoning) and Frodo Baggins is travelling through the Tooklands on his way to visit his relations at Great Smials. Before he reaches his destination, his young cousin Pippin finds him, to tell some rather disheartening news - and Frodo must help Pippin cope with his new situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out of the Dust

**Author's Note:**

> September, 3015 T.A. (Halimath, 1415 S.R.)  
> Frodo =47, Pippin = 25 (early 30's and 16 years old in Man-years…thanks to  
> Dreamflower for the Hobbit ages chart!)

It was a humid day in Halimath, and Frodo was lying in a field near Tuckborough,  
resting on his way to visit his Took cousins, when one of said cousins decided  
to surprise him.

"Frodo! Frodo, Frodo, Frodo…" Pippin gasped and ran to Frodo, who turned to look  
at him with an indulgent smile. A hurricane would have been slower than the  
energetic Pippin!

"Yes, Pipsqueak. Are we playing tag now?" He grinned as the tween huffed  
indignantly. "What can I do for you, hmm?" Frodo stretched lithely and settled  
back against the boulder supporting him, returning to his carving.

"I'm not a Pipsqueak," Pippin informed Frodo. "I'm Pippin. " He paused.  
"Peregrin. And…and…" He sighed, looking downcast. "Have you heard the news from  
Great Smials?"

Frodo's smile vanished. "What is it?" He set his knife and the newly carved  
object aside, and drew Pippin to him. Pippin buried his face in Frodo's  
shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of pipeweed, and his next words came out  
muffled.

"Cousin Rumbi."

Frodo froze in shock. "Ferumbras? Has he…" He felt, rather than saw, Pippin's  
miserable nod. "Oh…Pip. We knew it would happen soon," he murmured, though that  
didn't make it any harder. He had a stomach ache just thinking about what being  
the Thain's Heir would mean for Pip. Being the Baggins was hard enough on him.

"It was exhaustion, they said. But with a mum like Lalia, I'd be exhausted, too.  
But...we're leaving Whitwell, Frodo!" Pippin whispered, trembling with  
apprehension at all that it meant. Frodo sighed.

"How about you come back to Bag End with me when I go, Pip? I'll cook up some  
baked apples and iced fruit. You have to eat something," he said gently, and  
Pippin hugged him tight.

"Oh, Frodo, thank you!"

"Anything for my Pipsqueak," Frodo said softly. Gently disengaging himself from  
Pippin, he picked up his project and handed it over. "For you, Pip." He was no  
apothecary, but he knew well the grief of loss, and that even a small  
distraction might ease the pain somewhat.

Pippin's eyes were bright with tears. "A new flute!"

The first thing he played on it was a lament for Cousin Ferumbras.


	2. Welcome to Great Smials

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pippin and Frodo return to Great Smials, and have a run-in with Pippin's aunts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pearl, Peridot and Primrose are my names for the three elder sisters of Paladin and Esmeralda Took (later Esmeralda Brandybuck, Merry's mother). I, however, didn't originate these names - I credit Dreamflower with those. I haven't quite settled on ages for them yet, but I think Peridot and Primrose are either twins or very close in age to each other and Paladin.
> 
> Paladin and Esmeralda are canonically 3 years apart, being born in SR 1333 and 1336 respectively (2933 and 2936 in the reckoning of the Third Age).

"How about you come back to Bag End with me when I go, Pip? I'll cook up some  
baked apples and iced fruit. You have to eat something," he said gently, and  
Pippin hugged him tight.

"Oh, Frodo, thank you!"

"Anything for my Pipsqueak," Frodo said softly. Gently disengaging himself from  
Pippin, he picked up his project and handed it over. "For you, Pip." He was no  
apothecary, but he knew well the grief of loss, and that even a small  
distraction might ease the pain somewhat.

Pippin's eyes were bright with tears. "A new flute!"

The first thing he played on it was a lament for Cousin Ferumbras.

\- from chapter 1 of "Out of the Dust"

 

Frodo smiled wistfully as Pippin's song ended. It had been sad, but beautiful – something the lad had clearly made up out of his own head, as Uncle Bilbo was wont to do. He wondered where Bilbo was now. It had been fourteen years, almost to the day, since Bilbo had left the Shire. Pippin had been eleven then, a mere child, but now he was a tweenaged lad of twenty-five, old enough to understand the responsibility placed on his shoulders by a relative's departure. Oh, there were differences – Frodo was sure Bilbo wasn't dead, and Cousin Ferumbras was unmistakably so. Paladin was the Thain now – the responsibility had not fallen to Pippin at once. Yes, there were differences. But he understood well the sinking feeling Pippin had, all the same.

"Before I take you back home with me, Pip, I think I had better come to Great Smials." Frodo embraced his cousin. "We'll need to ask permission of your parents, and if they say yes, you'll need to pack, anyway." Pippin nodded, not wanting to think of what would happen if his parents said no. "Yes, Frodo." That was all, and then he followed Frodo toward Tuckborough, right up to Great Smials. The Thain's residence was a hive of activity, presided over by Primrose, the elder of Paladin's sisters. She spotted Pippin and Frodo, and swept over to greet them both with a kiss on the cheek. "Frodo, you are looking well," she said, the `unusually' being left unsaid. Both Pippin and Frodo knew what was meant, though, and Pippin bristled. "Aunt Prim, that's not…" At a look from Frodo, he fell silent.

"Thank you, Cousin," Frodo replied. "I was just passing by, when Pip ran into me. He told me what happened." Primrose nodded. "Well, nephew, since you're here, your parents are looking for you," she said brusquely, and Pippin scowled. "Maybe I don't want to see them." He subsided at another of Frodo's looks, and blushed a little. "Sorry."

"I dare say," was Primrose's dry retort, but she shook her head. "Well, off with you, then, Peregrin. Frodo, will you take tea with us? Things shan't settle for a while, I'm afraid, but I shan't have anyone saying I am a poor hostess."

"Perhaps after I've had a word with the Thain, Cousin Primrose," Frodo said. "I think it would benefit Pippin if he were to be brought away from all this for a while."

"That's not – " Primrose began, but stopped short.

"With the Thain, Primrose," Frodo said firmly. She sighed.

"If you insist, Frodo. Peridot!" Her younger sister left her task and came to greet Frodo with considerably more warmth than Primrose had showed. "Peri, make sure Peregrin doesn't find trouble - see that there is plenty at tea sufficient for Cousin Frodo and Peregrin's appetites."

"Do you want to empty the whole of the larders, Prim?" Peridot chuckled, thinking of her favourite nephew's typically tweenaged appetite, and grinned. Shaking her head, Primrose swept away and let her sister see to escorting Frodo and Pippin toward the new Thain and Lady's apartments.


End file.
